From the title of this post, one can quickly evaluate my level of Spanish. But then again, me intendiste, verdad? I get corrected alot, by Lily, her children, family and others. But, even so, the point usually gets across. And the point here is, I got mangos coming out my ears these days! We have this tree in our backyard and boy does it produce. About every minute I hear a loud thud as another mango hits the dirt. We have dozens of rotting mangos in the backyard and swarms of fruit flies ready for a feast. Our housekeeper, Adela, commented the other day on the prolific qualities of our mango tree. Her son, Samuel, a normally very quiet six year old, chimed in and informed us very matter of factly that “mangos are from heaven.” I thought to myself, well, they are quite delicious. And a single healthy mango tree does produce enough fruit to feed an entire army for several months. So hey, maybe Samuel is on to something there. In addition to our mango tree, we have a lemon tree, an orange tree and recently I have started an organic garden with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other good stuff. So in some sense, we are becoming more and more self-sustainable. I would rather eat fruits and vegetables from my own backyard than buy them from an unknown source that is probably contaminating both the food and the earth with only god knows what. Granted it is a little easier to be sustainable in a place that is so fertile, but the effort does pay off, both in physical as well as mental health. Life just feels a little more secure when every minute another delicious ripe mango falls from heaven and offers up a healthy meal in your own backyard. I guess I should thank Samuel for helping me realize and be grateful for God’s gifts, especially when they come in a form that is all too easy to take for granted.
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